The Pivot Table is a tool that Excel uses to create custom reports from your spreadsheet databases. All you need is one common, unique field. Here's how to set it up with multiple spreadsheets.

I hope this will be the definitive guide to pivot tables for anyone in this industry who has yet to feel one hundred percent comfortable with this crucial Excel feature.

An obvious story, perhaps, but one that demonstrates the ease and versatility of using a pivot table to sort your data. You can also use the data to create charts that will update themselves when you ...